Recently the CMCA held a National Rally at Pontville. About 600 recreational vehicles, comprising motorhomes and caravans attended, estimations suggest over $300,000 was injected into the local economy during this rally. What a boon for the area.

About 400 of the attendees were mainlanders, the common feedback from them indicated that Launceston was not a RV friendly destination.

Many were diverting their travels away from Launceston because of the lack of available overnight stopover parking. There is a dump point at Inveresk but this is not available overnight as the gates are locked.

There is little to no support for RV parking regarding overnight stays close to the city boundary, the council may suggest that Myrtle Park in the North East which is approx halfway between Launceston and Scottsdale is adequate or Old MacDonald’s farm ( a private park) in Norwood (restricted availability in winter) is sufficient.

RVs bring substantial dollars and invaluable goodwill into the communities they visit. Where their initial dollar investment is not for accommodation, they do spend on fuel, groceries, other consumables including restaurants, entertainment, sightseeing and so on.

The Launceston Council has suggested in the past that they didn’t want to provide a dedicated RV stop over area close to the city and compete with the local caravan park.

The caravan park has recently been upgraded to include cabins, is this not competition to hotels and motels in Launceston? Now is the time to consider that protection of singular business types is at the peril of the greater local economy.

The CMCA has recently opened their own sponsored park at Railton, George Town is almost completed and Campbell Town is to follow. These parks are being developed with the support of forward thinking local councils, Launceston you are being left behind.

Ken Padman, Newnham.

MY MOTHER is nearly 90 years old and lives in a nursing home.

Fees for nursing home residents are set by the government and administered through Centrelink. Since the end of October last year Centrelink have been overcharging my mother.

I first alerted them to this in January. My mother continued to be overcharged. Centrelink has acknowledged that they have been overcharging her.

Apparently it's an IT issue and they can't tell us when it will be fixed. It took me five minutes with a calculator to work out that they currently owe my mother $12,297.65 (and this is set to grow).

I don't know why they can't simply refund her the amount they owe her and stop overcharging her.

If this is happening to my mother, it’s difficult to believe that it’s not happening to other residents of nursing homes, many of whom would not even be aware that the overcharging is happening, let alone know what to do about it.

D Pitman, Windermere.

WE RECENTLY received a flyer in the mail from Peter Whish-Wilson proposing a canal be built from the Tamar Tail Race to the Rowing Club.

How does he expect this to work when the dam flow cannot move the mud  from Stevenson’s Bend. This proposal would probably increase the silt at the Yacht Basin . 

Peter Thyne, Bridport.

RUBBISH, councils getting into changing Australia Day, why don’t you try and do the job you are voted to do. I am wishing for the day when they get rid of councils.

Brian Osborne, Newnham.